Sermon
Living Waters of Grace May 19th, 2026
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
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County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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If I say, well, I can't do this, I'm not as good as him or I'm
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not as good as her, that's sinful.
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When God says he's choosing you because you're weak and foolish,
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just admit it, Lord, I'm not going to compare myself with
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anybody else. I'm what you tell me in your
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word, I am. I'm weak, I'm foolish, but I
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want to surrender this body to you for you to use for your
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glory. And as God begins to use you and
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work in your life and bless people through your life, you
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will know it has nothing to do with you.
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Comparing ourselves to others is a sinful habit that we must not
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allow ourselves to fall victim to.
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God didn't make us in the likeness of those around us.
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He made us in the likeness of Himself, and He knows what we're
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capable of. He created us all as individuals
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with a purpose. When He calls us to walk in the
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way He leads, we must lean into that and allow ourselves to be
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moved. Today, Pastor Clark teaches us
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not to be ashamed of being weak and foolish, because it's there
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we find God's strength now. Here's Pastor Clark in the Book
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of Revelation chapter 19 with today's edition of Living Waters
Revelation 19 chapter mention
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of Grace. Before crisis in our life, all
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we do is just keep doing the stuff that we know we shouldn't
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do. It's it comes naturally because
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we're all sinful people. But when Christ comes into our
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life and changes us, all the sudden we have the ability and
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the power to make choices now and say, I'm not going to live
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this way anymore. I'm not going to do this
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anymore. We're going to have to maybe
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talk to some people and say, guess what?
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My relationship with you is ended as of now.
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And they'll say, well, why? Because I can't live this way
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anymore. I can't sleep around anymore.
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I can't do this anymore because God lives in me now.
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They'll probably look at you like you're nuts.
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That's OK. They might ask you what do you
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mean God's in you? And then you can tell them
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what's happening to you. And then perhaps God will save
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them as well. And it says if we live in the
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Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
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So that's the major difference between this teaching and
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revelation regarding why is he going to destroy all this flesh
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on the earth at this time? Because these people are enemies
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of God. They're walking this way,
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they're living this way, and they don't care.
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They've heard the truth. They know the truth from the
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standpoint of it being communicated to them.
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But they're the kind of people that refuse to submit and
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repent. And perhaps you're here today in
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that camp, you're refusing to repent.
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Well, God wants you to know today that if you refuse to
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repent, this is what you're going to face.
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And even worse, if you don't end up in this situation, you die
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before this event occurs. You're going to be in hell
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forever. That's a cold hard fact, but
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it's the truth. You're going to be in hell
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forever and ever. Philippians chapter 3 verse 3
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says we're not to have any confidence in the flesh, not any
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confidence in our own self ability.
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And this, this is important for Christians today in our jobs and
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our marriages and our raising of our children and our ministries,
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whatever. If we depend upon our own
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abilities and we're trusting in our own wisdom, we're having
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confidence in our fallen nature, which will do nothing but mess
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things up. We're not to have any confidence
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in human ability. The world today teaches us about
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self esteem. To be confident, feel good about
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yourself, you have to love yourself.
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Well, the Bible says we already do love ourselves.
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I mean, that's a that's a given because all our focus is most of
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the time on ourselves. It proves that we have this
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insatiable love for self that we have to constantly deny.
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And Jesus says if any man will follow me, let him deny himself.
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That's the hardest thing to do as a human being, to deny
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yourself will. But it says not to have any
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confidence in your human ability.
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It says Second Corinthians chapter 3, verse 5.
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Not that we're sufficient of ourselves to think of anything
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as being from ourselves, but our sufficiencies from God.
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In other words, I receive my esteem from God.
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Where God says you're beloved, you're accepted in the beloved,
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holy and without blame. That should make all of us feel
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fantastic. It's not what you think of me or
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what I think of you or what we think of one another.
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I mean, it's nice to think good things, but you don't want
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anybody to hate you or not like you or disrespect you.
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But it really shouldn't bother us because God says He loves you
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with an everlasting love. He cares about you, He's for you
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and He's not against you. He has plans for you in the days
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ahead, Plans of hope and plans of a future.
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John 663 says it is a spirit who gives life.
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The flesh profits nothing. If I'm up here trying to
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motivate you today and my own ability and my own passion and
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my own desire as a human being and trying to persuade or cause
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your mind to think differently through my own strength, my own
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ability, it'll profit nothing. The words that I speak to you
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are spirit and they are life. And that's my prayer for us as a
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ministry, that it's a spirit that's speaking.
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It's not the flesh, it's not human ability, it's not the
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wisdom of man, but it's the wisdom of God.
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First Corinthians chapter one, verse 2631.
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If you flip over there for a minute and if you pick anything
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up as we're studying together, pick up the difference between a
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life that's directed by the Spirit and a life that's
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directed by pride of fallen natures.
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Verse 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many
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wise according to the flesh human ability, right fallen
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nature, not many mighty not many know Bo are called but God has
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chosen the foolish things of the world to put the shame the wise
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and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put the
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shame. The things which are mighty and
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base things of the world and things which are despise God
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hath chosen, and the things which are not to bring to
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nothing. The things that are that no
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flesh should glue glory in his presence, that no flesh should
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glory in his presence. But of him are you in Christ
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Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and
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sanctification and redemption that it is written.
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He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
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And so we're here today as brothers and sisters for the
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most point. Most of us are Christians here
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today, and God is calling all of you for some purpose.
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And he's not looking for people who are highly educated.
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Of course, he can use highly educated people, but he doesn't
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have any kind of agenda. When he chooses people to serve
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him, He chooses people who the world might say many times are
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losers. He chooses the outcasts, the
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downcast. He chooses the insecure.
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He chooses people who know down deep inside I can't do this,
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Lord. He chooses people who have
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failed. And so he looks out in an
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audience and he says not many wise out there today, not to put
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anybody down. Not many noble, not many mighty
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are called, but God has chosen the weak and the foolish things
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of this world. How many of us are weak and
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foolish here today? That's all of us.
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So he's calling all of us to serve him and you might say,
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well, I can't do this. I'm not as good as him or I'm
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not as good as her. That's sinful.
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When God says he's choosing you because you're weak and foolish,
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just admit it, Lord, I'm not going to compare myself with
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anybody else. I'm what you tell me in your
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word, I am. I'm weak, I'm foolish, but I
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want to surrender this body to you for you to use for your
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glory. And as God begins to use you and
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work in your life and bless people through your life, you
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will know it has nothing to do with you.
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And that's why it says there in 31.
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He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
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I remember when we were training to be missionaries and my sister
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in law's here today, she was with the new tribes mission in
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Africa with in Senegal and boot camp was tough.
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It was the second phase of the training.
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We went to Bible college. We got all that great head
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knowledge right. We had to memorize the book of
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Ephesians. We thought we were really it,
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right? I mean, we really thought we had
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it together. We had a handle on the word and
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all that. We go to the boot camp and we're
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around these deep Christians that are training us and and
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they're telling us why we got to get from what's in here down to
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here because we're all in there is a bunch of immature, proud,
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self willed people that are claiming that they're being
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called by God to be missionaries.
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And and the truth was that, yeah, God's calling us to serve
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him, but there's work that needs to be done in our life before we
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can serve him. They had a Tuesday night
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meeting. It was an open night meeting
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where you'd all sit here like this and they'd do worship and
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then you'd wait on the Holy Spirit to speak.
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And sometimes 10 minutes, nothing's happening.
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And they'd play some more music. And then someone would come up
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and they'd share the words, you know, and they'd break it.
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And they'd maybe 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15, and whatever the
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Holy Spirit's leading them. And, and they would be speaking
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to the body. And then they'd sit down and
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someone else would get up and share.
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And maybe a woman would come up and sing a song or read a Psalm,
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or it was powerful. And down deep inside, as you're
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sitting there, you know God wants to use you too, but you're
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afraid because you're thinking, what if I look like a fool?
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What if I say something that's stupid?
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What if I'm not correct? Or what if I blow it or
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whatever, You know, and God's like that, your heart's
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thumping. You know you're supposed to say
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something. You don't.
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You've all had those opportunities when you're in a
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meeting and you know God wants to use you.
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A Wednesday night's study to say something, to pray or whatever,
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step out in faith. And it's scary.
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And I remember the first time I went up there and I thought I
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had something to say. And when I got up there, I
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looked in the Bible, I realized I had nothing to say.
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It was terrible. I got up there and I'm supposed
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to say something, but I have absolutely nothing to say and I
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could have read something here, but the Lord whisper in my ear,
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you're a phony cloak. You're a phony.
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If we got to deal with you're going to be humble and you're
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going to be and I'm like freaking out and at the back of
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the wall. It says this first to bring to
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naughty the things that are that no flesh should glory in his
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presence. It says in First Corinthians
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1550, flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
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The part of us we war against will not be in heaven.
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That's good news. The fallen sinful nature will
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not follow us into the Kingdom of God.
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When we get into the Kingdom of God, the former things have
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passed away. There'll be no more pride,
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There'll be no more selfish ambition.
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There'll be no more anger or hatred or unforgiveness or
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bitterness or lust. All that stuff is going to be
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gone, the unyielded self life that we still struggle with and
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as a pastor I have to constantly bring my will under subjection
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of the Lord and say Lord not my will but your will be done in
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every area of my life. That unyielded tendency in our
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lives that fights against us in this body, the flesh to try to
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make excuses for sin or attitude won't be in the Kingdom of
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heaven. You ever have your wife or your
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husband say something to you like, you know you did this and
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you did that and and the first thing you want to do is justify
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yourself, right? Well, no, that's not the way it
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went down. That's not really what happened.
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I was really doing this and the person's like looking at you
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like you're lying. But in our minds, we're
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justifying our behavior, right? I'll give you an illustration of
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my own life. Last night.
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My grandson comes to spend the night with us, and I love
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hanging out with my grandkids. But I told you guys I'm going to
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add it to the computer when I have to investigate something to
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buy something. So I'm busy studying about
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netbook computers because I need it for my job.
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It's different than a laptop. They're smaller and they're
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cheaper and they're, you know, whatever.
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So I'm like doing this extensive research that I think is real
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important because I got to get this thing soon.
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I got all this pressure on my life next week to serve all this
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data and all these reports and everything.
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I need to have this device. And, you know, my conscious is
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telling me get out there and play with Logan.
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You know, get out there and play with Logan.
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I kept like, well, I'll get out there in a little bit, right?
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And then they watched a movie and I figured I can be back here
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now because they're watching a movie.
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I'm justifying myself. Then I come out and we're going
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to play kids Monopoly. And then we were going to read a
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book and I was real tired. And I said, why don't you read a
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book to us? That way you can put Papa to
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sleep while you're reading, you know, so he's so cute.
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He's laying beside me reading this book.
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And it's amazing to see how this kid reads at first grade.
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I mean, all I could read was see spot run Jack and Joe up the
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hill. Remember that?
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And they're reading way beyond what we could read back when we
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were in school in first grade. Cindy and I are talking and and
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she just said, you know, you blew it last night.
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He doesn't get up here that often, right?
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So honey, I was in there studying.
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I was doing my sermon too, you know, and she says all the time
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I said, well, no, no, but a lot of the time I'm trying to
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justify here, wait a little bit. I'm not really.
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Finally I realized that I did blow it.
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I was convicted. But it's interesting how we want
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to justify the flesh. And you can't make excuses for
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the flesh. It is what it is.
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It's despicable, it's self willed, it's selfish, it's our
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enemy, you know. And so thank God, you know, as
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I, you know, dealt with my heart there, he was playing with a
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puzzle. And I redeemed some time.
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I sat down. I'm not good at puzzles, but I
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sat down and I was able to put five pieces in with him.
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And, you know, we had a nice time.
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We connected there. And next time he comes up, I'll
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be more sensitive to, you know, turn the computer off and, you
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know, hang out with him. But you know, this tendency that
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we have to constantly crucify the desires of our own self will
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and our own passions, our own desires.
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And that wasn't an evil desire to do that research.
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I got to do it, you know, regardless.
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But I can pick the times when I can do certain things, you know.
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And so we're to walk in the Spirit.
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We're to be controlled by God and everything we do.
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Now, when you read the book of Genesis and the way the world
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was and the way Adam and Eve were before, the fall is the way
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we're going to be in the Kingdom of heaven.
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God's going to restore everything to the way he
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initially wanted it to be. And I can't wait for that time.
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It's going to be glorious. But sin is this enemy right now
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in this life and it manifests itself through, as I said, this
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body and these fallen desires. Again, the difference between an
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unbeliever is all they can do is be held captive to the fallen
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desires over and over and over again.
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The difference with a Christian and a believer is we have the
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ability now to overcome what is attacking us and what is
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tempting us and what is happening that is wrong.
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We don't have to allow it to control us.
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We can ask God to give us strength and we can overcome it,
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and we don't have to be victim to it anymore.
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Now God says that the foolishness of man is evident,
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and what we're seeing in Revelation here in chapter 19 is
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the foolishness of man warring against God in 19 and 21, and we
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see the consequences of these world leaders at the time.
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You have the unholy Trinity, you have the devil, the Antichrist,
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the beast and the false prophet. And in 19 it says, when I saw
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the beast, the kings of the earth and the armies gathered
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together to make war against him, Capital H making war
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against Christ himself who sat on the horse and against his
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army. How foolish to think that man
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can ever win a battle against God.
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You know, there was a time in our lives today as Christians
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that we were like these people here that are preparing to do
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battle against God. You may be here today and you
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are fighting against God. You're his enemy.
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And it says in Ephesians chapter 2, in him we were made alive who
Ephesians 2 chapter mention
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were dead once in trespasses and sins, in which time we also
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walked according to the course of this world, according to the
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Prince of the power of the year. Our allegiance was to the devil
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and the demons. That was our whole life and we
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didn't even realize it. It says among whom also we had
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our manner of life, our conversation and time passed
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fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we're
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by nature the children of wrath. Even as others.
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Ron and I talked about this. Ron teaches immense study on
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Saturday. What he came out of, like maybe
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a lot of us was was really bad, wasn't it, Fulfilling the
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desires of the flesh and of the mind.
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He talked about the struggle because people were becoming
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Christians that he loved and they started telling him what
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happened to him and it gave him conflict and he knew this is
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what he needed. But the devil and the flesh
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wanted him to stay in the bondage of the old life, send
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them to hell. But God in his grace
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miraculously broke through it says the next verse in Ephesians
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2. But God, who is rich in mercy
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for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead
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in trespasses and sins, that's all of us, hath quickened us
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together with Christ by grace. Are you saved?
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And now he's a man of God, has a woman of God as his wife, and
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young children of God. Amazing how God can turn our
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lives around. A young man told me about his
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addictions to drugs and how horrible it was, and how he's
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been clean now for a couple years, and how he was baptized
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and now he's a new creation. If any man is in Christ, he's a
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new creation. Old things are passed away.
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Behold, all things are become new.
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Some of us here today have things we have to turn over to
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Christ in order that we can see Him save us.
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Armageddon. It's the vengeance of God
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against the ultimate arrogance of man.
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We see the beast and the false prophet, the enemies of God, the
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leaders of the ungodly Kingdom. They're cast into the lake of
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fire before the great White Throne judgment.
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Now, next week we're going to look at chapter.
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The next several chapters are astounding as we close the Book
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of Revelation up. But these two characters were
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cast into the lake of fire even before the final judgment.
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The beast and the false prophet, the devil will be cast into this
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fire after the thousand year millennial reign, which will
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occur after the second coming of Christ.
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And we'll look at that in Revelation 2015.
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Now, the lake of fire, as we begin to conclude, is hell.
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And it's for anyone that's not found written in the book of
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life will be cast into the lake of fire.
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God has a book. That book is open.
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And if you're his today, you're born again.
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You're a believer in Christ. Your name's written in that
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book. And when God opens the book, it
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isn't like God needs a memory. I wonder if Clark's in here.
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Let me see here. Oh, yeah, Yeah.
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He's back there in 1971. He got born.
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And God knows everything about everybody.
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He knows those who are his and those who aren't.
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But hell is not prepared, as I said earlier, for you.
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It's prepared for the devil and his angels.
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Matthew 2541 tells us that it's a place where the fire is not
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quenched. And Mark Chapter 9, it's a place
Mark 9 chapter mention
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of regret and torment and fire, and there's no water to quench
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your thirst. Luke chapter 16 in Revelation,
Luke 16 chapter mention
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it speaks about hell, where the smoke of those tormented there
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goes up forever and they find no rest.
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As I told you in Galatians 5, those who practice sin will not
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inherit the Kingdom of God. You have to stop the desire to
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sin, and the only way you can stop that is by coming to
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Christ. And He'll take that desire away.
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Some of you here today I know are on the edge of coming to
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Christ, and the truth is pulling you towards the Lord and the
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devil and the demons and the sin is pulling you away from God.
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It's a conflict, but Christ wants to free you from that
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conflict. John chapter 3 Nicodemus is a
John 3 chapter mention
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Pharisee, a a roller, a teacher of the Jews.
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He comes to Jesus by night and says to him, Rabbi, we know that
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you're a teacher, come from God. For no one can do these signs
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that you do unless God is with him.
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And Jesus answered and said to him, most surely I say to you,
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unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
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Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old?
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Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
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And Jesus answered most assuredly.
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I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he
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cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is
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flesh. In other words, our first birth
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through our mother is the first birth, and that's born of human
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flesh. And that which is born of
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spirit, capital S Holy Spirit is Spirit.
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Talking about a need to be born again, have a second birth.
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Then Aunt Marvel, I say to you, you must be born again.
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And you might sit here and say that sounds really confusing.
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How does that all work out? Well, Jesus says the wind blows
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where it wishes. You hear the sound of the wind,
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but you can't tell where it's coming from and where it goes.
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So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.
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The way we're born again is to repent from our sin and to turn
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to Jesus Christ. You can't get born again through
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baptism. You can't get born again through
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taking the Lord's Supper. You can't get born again by
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saying, I'm going to turn over a new leaf.
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I'm going to try harder. You can't get born again through
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a priest or a pastor. You only can get born again
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through the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the one
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who has the power to bring you into this second birth.
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And if you're not born again, you won't enter into the Kingdom
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of heaven. It isn't about coming to church.
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Coming to church is a good thing.
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That's where you hear about these things.
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But church attendance can't save you.
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Nothing can save you except for Jesus Christ.
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He's the only one who can save us.
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And so my prayer today is we've studied about this horrible
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situation in Revelation and the end of chapter 19.
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What's going to come upon the earth?
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There's one reason to teach these things.
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God tells us to teach his Word. But the main reason is that we
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find ourselves either on one side of the bat or the other.
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We're either part of God's family today or we're not, and
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we all have to come the same way.
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We have to humble ourselves and say, Lord, I need to get saved
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today. I need to get born again.
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I need you to come into my life and change me.
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God wants to save people. He's come to seek and to save
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that which is lost yield to Him. He wants to save you.
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This has been Living Waters of Grace with Pastor Clark.
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We're going through the challenging and also intriguing
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Book of Revelation. Whether you're a fan of reading
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ahead in books of fiction, there's such a benefit to
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reading ahead in the Bible to read about how it all ends.
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But in an interesting turn of events, the Book of Revelation
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is not really the end, but rather the beginning.
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It's the end of life as we know it here on earth, but there's so
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much to look forward to for what comes after all the judgement of
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the earth and those who reject God.
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There's a lot to work through, and it can be heartbreaking to
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read through the intense judgements and wrath that will
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come on those who hate God with all their might.
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The thing is, God has given chance upon chance to these
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people. They don't want it.
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So the outcome is that there are judgments and consequences for
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those who've rejected the good news and the gift of salvation
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that's offered through Jesus's death and resurrection.
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Are you one who has heard about these things but doesn't really
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want it because you want to live life on your terms?
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Trust me, living for Jesus is so much better.
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That doesn't mean it will be easy, but as you listen and read
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through Revelation with us, you'll come to a stark
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realization that you don't want to be on earth when the
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apocalypse happens. So check out Calvary Chapel
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online.com to learn how to come to a saving grace through faith
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that will allow you to be with Jesus for eternity.
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We'd also love to meet you in person at Calvary Chapel
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Westmoreland. Come join us at 400 E Pittsburgh
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St. Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601.
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This has been living waters of Grace.